gun control

With more student protests expected after the shooting in Parkland, Fla., the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois is encouraging schools to "nurture your students’ efforts to learn for themselves about participatory democracy."

In response to a Florida massacre and the killing of a Chicago police officer, the Democrat-controlled Illinois House pushed through some gun control measures Wednesday, endorsing a bump-stock ban and a minimum age of 21 for buying assault-style weapons.

The House voted to prohibit the sale of bump stocks and "trigger cranks," which increase the firing rates of rifles, effectively making them assault-style weapons. Also approved was a bar on anyone younger than 21 buying assault-style weapons of the type used in the shooting deaths of 17 students in Parkland, Fla.

Several gun-related proposals passed an Illinois House committee hearing Tuesday.

Gun control supporters in attendance included members of the Chicago Police Department, who stood behind the so-called "Paul Bauer Act" — drafted in memory of the Chicago police commander killed by a man wearing body armor. The measure would prohibit its use and set a limit on high-capacity ammunition devices.